Winning Post

This week in Winning Post

Sydney's first million-dollar event of the spring takes the racing spotlight this Saturday, and the Gerald Ryan-trained Menari looks hard to beat.

The past three winners of the Run to the Rose have gone on to win the $1 million Golden Rose, and Menari was impressive winning that lead-up event a fortnight ago.

But Godolphin colt Kementari is sure to be better for that run, while connections of the Snowdens' Pariah have conceded defeat either.

Meanwhile in Melbourne the action shifts to Caulfield for the Testa Rossa, the How Now and the Naturalism.

Our form coverage kicks off on Friday with full form guides for Geelong and Scone plus fields, colours and selections for Canberra, Port Lincoln and Sunshine Coast.

The metro racing this Saturday is at Caulfield in Melbourne, Rosehill in Sydney, Morphettville in Adelaide, Ipswich in Queensland and Belmont in Perth.

Winning Post carries full-colour liftout guides for all those meetings plus Tatura Cup day (Vic/SA/Tas edition), Kembla Grange (NSW edition) and Gold Coast (Queensland edition), as well as fields, tips, ratings and/or colours for other TAB Saturday cards.

On Sunday we've got liftout formguides for four more TAB meetings including Gold Nugget day at Sportsbet-Ballarat plus fields, ratings, tips and colours for a stack more Sunday and Monday programs.

Don't forget Winning Post now carries trackwork reports for all four Melbourne training tracks, all three in Sydney, Morphettville in Adelaide and a general Brisbane report.

Away from the form, we've got news columns from Queensland, NSW, six Victorian districts, SA and Tasmania.

Our readers have their say on page 4, while further back in the book Shane Templeton reminisces, Paul Richards presents his unique take on the sport, Tony Kneebone brings you his Snippets column and Number Cruncher delivers the stats that matter.

Winning Post costs $5 and is available Thursday afternoon in selected Melbourne newsagents, the crack of dawn Friday elsewhere.

... More

Gippsland: Shea finds a Way .................................................................................................................................................

Central Victoria: Early success a Big surprise .................................................................................................................................................

Goldfields: Sigh of relief as Steel seals deal .................................................................................................................................................

SA: Kah and McEvoy a team to beat .................................................................................................................................................

Wimmera: Halcyon days are here again .................................................................................................................................................

More Stories

Inside Winning Post September 23 edition you'll find liftout form guides for:

Friday:

Moonee Valley, Benalla, Moruya

Saturday:

Mornington, Randwick, Morphettville, Sunshine Coast, Belmont, Kembla Grange (except Queensland), Gold Coast (Queensland edition)

Sunday:

Caulfield, Ballina, Cootamundra, Toowoomba

Eye Catchers

Each week Paul Richards identifies horses from recent race meetings that he believes are ready to win. Here we update you when they are about to have their next start.

Belmont Saturday - R6 N9 Come On Board

Rosehill Gardens Saturday - R7 N10 Assimilate

Rosehill Gardens Saturday - R8 N4 Daysee Doom

Results

Letter of the Week

Too easy

Regarding “It’s ladies’ day” (16/9), it is interesting that all these champions are females (Sunline, Makybe Diva, Black Caviar, Winx).
The main reason for this is the inequitable allowance that fillies and mares are allowed at weight-for-age.
If the female horse was slower than the male, then they would have all been eaten many years ago, by the sabre-toothed tigers, or whatever predators were present, since the slowest horse in the herd would be the first eaten.
Admiral Ross, in propounding the weight-for-age theory, tried to “humanise” horses, whereby the female was the weaker of the species.
Since he did this 300 years ago, he would have to rate as a genius, if it was in fact accurate. There have been some modifications since, but totally inadequate.
In the equine kingdom, they all run at the same speed, since they have the same physical attributes, and need the same defensive capabilities for survival.
Who could forget the massive hindquarters of Black Caviar, or the sheer physical specimen that was Sunline? And what male could get into winning their third Melbourne Cup with 58kg as Makybe Diva did? Phar Lap was given 10.10 (68kg) in 1931 and he had only won it once.
So, with all our precocious breeding techniques, and the equivalent strength inherent in the female horse, the out-and-out champions will be female for a long time. That will only be corrected when the allowance for fillies and mares is removed, from all races.

Geoff Chapman
Gold Coast (Qld)